Head coach George Kiefer and the Grand Canyon men's soccer team announced a 18-match schedule for his first season leading the Lopes this fall.
A total of 20 matches are on the slate, including exhibition matches vs. UC Irvine (Aug. 11 in Chula Vista, California) and Yavapai College (Aug. 17 at GCU Stadium). GCU will face six 2023 NCAA tournament qualifiers, meeting five of them in the regular season.
The Lopes begin the regular season at home versus Western Illinois on Aug. 22. They then travel east to face off against two schools from Durham, North Carolina, playing at NCAA tourney team Duke on Aug. 30 and at Elon on Sept. 2. GCU is 1-1 against ACC opponents since 2022 and will play an ACC school on the road for the second consecutive season.
The Lopes return home Sept. 6 versus Omaha, another NCAA tournament foe that will be followed with another home contest against Creighton on Sept. 9. GCU played both teams in Nebraska last season.
GCU's September slate includes road matches at Santa Clara (Sept. 12) and San Diego (Sept. 19) and home matches against Cal State Fullerton (Sept. 15) and 2023 Elite Eight program LMU (Sept. 23). Earlier this summer, GCU announced it will move to the West Coast Conference following 2024-25, with Santa Clara, San Diego, and LMU all hailing from the WCC.
WAC play begins in October, with home matches versus Air Force (Oct. 10), Utah Valley (Oct. 13), California Baptist (Oct. 24) and San Diego State (Oct. 27). The Lopes are on the road five times during conference play, including at UT Rio Grande Valley (Oct. 6) in their league opener, at Utah Tech (Oct. 17), at UNLV (Oct. 20), at San Jose State (Oct. 31) and a Nov. 3 regular-season finale at Seattle U.
The WAC Tournament will be held at GCU Stadium for the first time since 2021. The Lopes are 19-6-3 at home since the 2021 season and 9-2-2 at home against WAC competition in that span.